Physical therapy and the exercise equipment industry are growing areas where health-minded individuals can find many devices, systems and methods for training, exercising and rehabbing injuries. Many of the known training and/or rehabbing devices can vary in effectiveness, as well as cost.
One popular and useful device is known as a balance board. The balance board comes in many different shapes and sizes. Therapists have also devised a number of exercises for its use. The different exercises are prescribed depending on the intended area (e.g., muscle group, joint, etc.) to be worked on.
A balance board should provide a user with the ability to balance in a standing position through full range of motion along the frontal and sagittal planes, without having to dismount the board. These devices should also include a feature to allow the user to maintain an inverted position of the ankle and move through full active ankle dorsiflexion and plantar flexion range of motion in a weight bearing position to strengthen the ankle in a position that most ankle sprains occur. A user should also be able to utilize the board at two different intensities in prone shoulder stabilization exercises.
Despite the need for these features, current balance boards do not provide the ability to balance in a standing position through full range of motion along the frontal and sagittal planes without having to dismount the board. These devices also lack a feature which allows the user to maintain an inverted position of the ankle and move through full active ankle dorsiflexion and plantar flexion range of motion in a weight bearing position to strengthen the ankle in a position that most ankle sprains occur. Furthermore, known prior art devices do not allow the user to utilize the board at two different intensities in prone shoulder stabilization exercise.
Currently, a device known as a “rocker board” is widely used for balance exercises. The device has two rails set wide apart. The user must dismount the rocker board, rotate the board 90 degrees, and remount the board in order to balance along both the frontal and sagittal planes. The rocker board does not allow the user to reach full range of motion across both planes.
A small sphere attached to a round board has been described as useful for balance exercises. The small diameter of the sphere tends to make the board unstable and too advanced for most users. Also, the round board makes the device difficult to mount against the flat surface of the floor without external support.
The Indo™ board, and similar devices, allow the user to balance through full range of motion along the frontal plane, but do not allow the user to balance along the sagittal plane.
The BOSU® ball includes a firm flat surface with a hemispherical bladder affixed centered on the bottom and has been used for balance training. The BOSU® ball can be used in standing balance with the bladder against the ground and the user may balance in any direction. But, because the bladder is spherical the user cannot balance through full range of motion along the sagittal plane in the anatomical standing position.
The invention of the present application is designed to address these and other issues faced by balance board users. The disclosed device provides a user-friendly exercise and physical therapy balance board with numerous advantages in simplicity and effectiveness.